‘Not your typical thing’: The complex rescue of a truck that ended up in Turnagain Arm

Semi-trailer truck He was thrown off the Seward Highway Snowfall that began Tuesday evening created a strange Alaskan sight on Wednesday morning.

The red taxi was partially submerged in the freezing grey water, its trailer still attached – both of which remained afloat after the driver’s terrifying journey into the water.

It all took place along a scenic stretch of road alongside Turnagain Arm, the narrow waterway at the northern end of Cook Inlet. notoriously risky mud flats and one of the largest tidal waves in North America.

Authorities said the driver was rescued and taken to the hospital. A family member said Wednesday that he was OK.

What about that truck?

The semi-trailer and trailer were pulled from the mudflats on Wednesday evening in a technical effort involving four heavy-duty tractors, two cranes, a hazmat response team, several rescue swimmers and very poor weather conditions.

“This was not a regular thing,” Girdwood Fire and Rescue Chief Michelle Weston said. “I can tell you tomorrow in the Inlet was nowhere on my bingo card.”

It is not yet clear what caused the driver to leave the highway. Authorities said he left the road in the area of ​​a road construction project where a barrier was being removed. Responders said conditions at the time were windy, rainy, and visibility was poor.

Renee Oistad, an Anchorage Police Department spokeswoman, said Thursday that she was investigating the incident. Oistad said no notice had been issued. The company listed on the side of the cab is On Demand Trucking in Anchorage. A company representative put a reporter on hold Thursday, and then the call was disconnected.

The driver has not yet been identified.

The area where the truck went into the water is part of a state transportation project that includes realignment and bridge replacement work between Ingram Creek and the Twentymile River, according to Justin Shelby, a regional spokesman for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.

Crews completing the bike path component of the project are removing and replacing sections of guardrail as they go, Shelby said.

The area where the guardrail was removed is marked with a reduced speed limit of 45 mph, he said. “We also have signs, lights and those barrel cones all over that section.”

The response began just after 10 p.m. Tuesday after the fire department received a report of a “sinking vehicle” north of the Twentymile River, according to the statement. sent Wednesday. Rescue crews pulled the driver from the cab.

Justin Creech, president of Vulcan Towing and Recovery, said he was the rescue coordinator on the scene around 1 a.m. Wednesday when he received a call that the truck had gone off the highway and into the water.

Creech said he has hired Jenwar Towing & Recovery of Soldotna to help with what he is certain will be a big job. He has also hired a company called Republic Services to handle any perimeter repairs that may be needed.

Creech said the first thing he thought about when he arrived at the scene Wednesday morning was the driver’s condition. He was relieved to hear the man was out of the hospital and recovering.

“Then, when I looked at it, my second thought was, ‘Man, this is going to be cold, it’s going to be wet, and it’s going to be muddy,'” he said in an interview Thursday.

He was not wrong.

The truck’s rescue involved about two dozen people battling what Weston called “classic Turnagain Arm weather,” torrential rain, heavy sidewinds, the Arm’s freezing waters and, of course, the natural deadline for the tide.

Creech said one of the biggest challenges was the elevation change from the road to the truck: there were two 10-foot cliffs between the highway and the truck, plus a bulge from the receding tide.

Fortunately, the truck’s trailer had no cargo, but it did have about 10,000 pounds of empty fish containers, he said.

“It was sinking slowly,” Creech said. “Silver was filling the engine compartment. The trailer was filling with water.”

The tide was a major factor in rescue planning. As the water rose Tuesday night into Wednesday, Weston said, rescuers reported the truck “started moving like a bathtub toy.” The tides were so strong they were moving the truck.

Rescue efforts began at around 4 p.m., when the tide was at its lowest.

Three rescue swimmers from the Girdwood Fire Department put on cold-water dry suits and attached straps to the front and back of the semitrailer, Weston said. The swimmer in the back of the truck tied himself to the trailer as he struggled against the pull of the water, Creech said.

“He reached down, probably three or four feet under water… and lassoed it to the back of the trailer,” he said. “I’m surprised he even made it because the current was so strong.”

The straps around the semitrailer were then attached to two winches, which “pulled the truck far enough to shore” so two tow trucks could reach the truck, Creech said. He said those two tow trucks were then attached to two other tow trucks so they wouldn’t float in the water.

Using a combination of cranes and recovery vehicles, crews lifted the cabin and trailer off the ground and got everything off the road, Creech said. The disabled vehicle headed for Anchorage around 9 p.m. It was at the Vulcan site Thursday.

The highway was fully reopened at 9:30 p.m.

Drivers stuck in traffic on the highway for hours may not have liked it, Weston said, but with the fast-moving currents there was no other time to do it.

He said he responds to occasional calls involving passenger vehicles ending up in Turnagain Arm. Some were never removed, while one continued back onto the highway after entering the water.

Weston said the driver deserved credit for keeping the truck upright and that rescue crews did an impressive job in a complex extrication.

Creech, who noted that his family has owned the towing company since 1991, said the semi-tug in Turnagain Arm was one of several rescue operations he experienced during his time as a tow truck in Alaska.

“It was tough because of the elevation of the road and the drop into the water. It was a long way out there,” he said. “It was definitely in the top five.”

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